How wrong was it of me to break open someone’s personal diary with a lock in it that I found inside my car?

[Anonymous]

I know it’s confusing on how someone’s personal diary would end up in my car but long story made short was I bought a car from an auction. The car still had all of her personal stuff inside of it and I was cleaning the car because it now belongs to me. I found a diary and I broke it open and started reading it.

There was depression and other deep stuff inside of it. Really deep. I didn’t know it would be that personal but I even have the girls information. I was able to find her on instagram because I was just curious on what she looked like. I obviously won’t share any of this with anybody nor will I ask her about this. But I basically have her personal life from a few years of writings… I just found them to be interesting so I started reading them. Yeah, there’s more than just one. A few more.

[quaranta]

I think it's "borderline fine", but the fact the car was full of her things including a private diary is strange. Are you sure the car was not stolen?
As weird as I am I would contact the girl, not to tell her I paid attention in reading carefully her diary because that's weird and creepy, but, without mentioning the diary at all, I would say that that the car was full of personal things to the point I got all her data, and that made me wonder if she was a victim of car theft because nobody would leave such things there, maybe. I think contacting her via Instagram is more creepy because it implies you crawled the site to search her, better sending a letter to her home, with your contacts and the ones of the auction, in case the car was stolen indeed.
Beside this, I would really do nothing.
Take it like an insight on psychology, of a completely random person, the same as you could read someone's story on an internet article.
Reading it carefully was probably wrong but on the other side, if the car was not stolen, it was her responsibility to clean her car from personal data. In the doubt, better not being too nosy, because I doubt that's what she would "want". Probably she expected anyone would just throw it away alongside all of her stuff.

[peacesncream]

I don't know but me personally wouldn't read it I mean it's private and you said you bought her car at an auction she knew that was in there u think?

[peacesncream]

Ship it to the address?

[Asker]

Can’t do that. That would be creepy

[FilmGuy93]

Another answerer used the term "borderline fine," and I think that's a good way to put it. What you did wasn't great, but you bought a car at auction and it was full of stuff that SHE left inside it. Don't read anymore of the entries, destroy the book, and don't tell anyone about what you read.

You have a certain responsibility to keep her secrets now. Just DBAA about it.

[misogynistic_pig]

Nothing, I also opened the diary of a classmate when I was 12 years old, I opened it with scissors or with the lid of a pencil, I don't remember well, all that is written in a diary is pathetic stuff.

[dustybiker]

I wouldn’t have read it. I would have destroyed it. That’s just me though.

[Guy13]

Guess you are not contacting and returning? Mail them maybe?